Discontinuation of Statin Therapy Due to Muscular Side Effects

Muscular symptoms associated with average dosage statin therapy are more frequent than in clinical trials and have a greater impact on patients' life than usually thought.

Methods
•Authors conducted a wide survey on 10,409 French subjects.
•Among these, 2850 (27%) had hypercholesterolemia and 1074 were treated with statins.
•Muscular symptoms were reported by 104 (10%) statin treated patients and led to discontinuation in 30% of the symptomatic patients.
•The main prescribed statins were low doses rosuvastatin, atorvastatin and simvastatin.
•Pains were the most commonly described symptoms (87%) but many patients also reported stiffness (62%), cramps (67%), weakness or a loss of strength during exertion (55%).